June 2013

28/06/13

Orr Orr

Eurasian Woodcocks tend to lead very secluded lives in the undergrowth of forests. They aren’t easy to see and the fact that they are mostly active at night also doesn’t help. The best time to see them is on quiet evenings from april till june at dusk. The males then undertake courting flights and fly around the forest edges in circles making strange peeping and grunting noises (sounds like Orr Orr).

Photographing this behavior is quite a challenge. woodcock flight is quite fast and the low light levels mean using relatively high iso values. This time I was lucky and two birds flew past the last remnants of colour on the horizon.